Juan Soto gets paid
Juan Soto and the New York Mets have agreed to a 15 year, $765 million deal, per multiple reports. The deal reportedly includes a $75 million signing bonus, no deferrals, and an opt out after year five, as well as escalators that can increase the overall value of the deal.
This is quite the deal. Soto, who turned 26 in October, has, in his six years in change as a major league, established himself as not only one of the greatest players in baseball currently, but someone whose achievements through age 25 stack up with the greatest players ever. He has been in the top 8 in his league in OPS in all seven of his major league seasons (including 2018, when he was technically short of qualifying for the league leaderboard due to having just 494 plate appearances), and has the third highest OPS among active players and 23rd highest all time. Soto put up a career-high 7.9 bWAR for the New York Yankees this past season, when he slashed .288/.419/.569, hit 41 homers, and finished 3rd in the MVP voting.
And now he will be a member of the New York Mets at least through 2029.